In the first two weeks of 2011, the Tigers miraculously avoided their first defeat since 2009, pulling off thrilling victories against Utah State and Mississippi State.

Despite some obvious flaws and still-unanswered questions, expectations, which hadn’t necessarily been too high coming into the season, started to build.

Because really, it’s easy to get caught up in a 17-game winning streak, especially when the most recent victory came against the well-regarded Bulldogs.

And nobody saw the 2010 Auburn squad winning a national championship, either, but that group survived a few close games early and went on to great things. With the last-minute comeback against Utah State and the goal-line stand against Mississippi State, this 2011 team started to pick up the scent of destiny, too.

That wasn’t the smell after Clemson finished crushing the defending national champs, 38-24.

The host Tigers rolled up more than 600 yards of total offense—one of those disregarded Auburn flaws was an inability to tackle, which was on full display Saturday afternoon—and trounced the visiting Tigers. That’s the most any Clemson team has ever put up against an SEC team. The previous best, by the way, was 524 against Auburn in 1951, the last time Clemson had beaten Auburn.

Maybe that’s a good thing for Auburn. If Gene Chizik’s squad would have somehow gotten past Clemson, a win next week against Florida Atlantic would have moved them to 4-0 and a likely top 15 ranking heading into a brutal stretch of games.

Auburn plays at No. 10 South Carolina, at No. 14 Arkansas, at home against No. 16 Florida and then at No. 3 LSU. No way were the Tigers going to get through that carwash unscathed. Now, with expectations back to reasonable levels—a bowl game, respectable finish in the SEC Western Division—maybe it won’t hurt so much after they finish those four tough games.